Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUL 2, 2012

Debut author Boccacino bowls the reader over with his note-perfect rendition of a spooky Victorian atmosphere. Widower Henry Darrow employs governess Charlotte Markham, a young widow, to tutor his sons, James and Paul. Following a sinister murder in the village and housekeeper Mrs. Norman's lurid forebodings, Paul dreams of his mother in parallel to Charlotte's own eerie dreams of the dead, including her dead mother. Paul's vision leads to a reunion and to an implied struggle between the two women for control of the children. Many of the characters also encounter other beings, some with malevolent designs that echo past terrors from Charlotte's life. The complex reverberations of mirror images, dramatic parallels among those who are "bound by our grief," and vicarly exhortations on the nature of the supernatural lead Charlotte to acknowledge her attraction to Darrow and realize her role as a bridge between two worlds a role that necessitates a terrible final choice. Boccacino's deft handling of this delicately supernatural period piece makes it a sterling genre selection.